Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

Themes or imagery inserted for symbolic value. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Woman in White Due to the Dead As Himself Male Frontal Nudity Ship Tease Camera Abuse Lampshade Hanging Handicapped Badass Evil vs. Evil Bavarian Fire Drill An Arm and a Leg Exactly What It Says on the Tin Drives Like Crazy One-Word Title The Ditz Final Girl Leitmotif You Killed My Father Villain Ball Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Soundtrack Dissonance Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome The Casanova Every Car Is a Pinto Epic Movie Bond Villain Stupidity Spell My Name with an "S" The Stinger Action Girl Artistic License – Biology Badass Longcoat Double-Meaning Title Arranged Marriage Aluminum Christmas Trees Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Big Bad Exact Words Ungrateful Bastard Bloodier and Gorier Bilingual Bonus The '50s Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Be Careful What You Wish For The Cavalry Mama Bear Adapted Out Grey and Gray Morality Punny Name Creative Closing Credits May–December Romance Alas, Poor Villain Mythology Gag Advertised Extra Hero of Another Story Karmic Death Put on a Bus Match Cut Fanservice Author Avatar The '80s Suddenly SHOUTING! Star-Crossed Lovers Composite Character Hoist by His Own Petard Spiteful Spit Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Dark and Troubled Past Fainting Beauty Is Never Tarnished The '60s Creator Cameo Bald of Evil Vomit Indiscretion Shot Undying Loyalty Would Hurt a Child Those Two Guys Evil Sounds Deep Genre Throwback Love Triangle Sacrificial Lion Dying Moment of Awesome More Dakka An Aesop Mind Screw Domestic Abuse Never Trust a Trailer Training Montage Framing Device Laser-Guided Karma Papa Wolf Index of Film Westerns The Reveal Biopic You Have Failed Me Big-Bad Ensemble Reckless Gun Usage I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Fire-Forged Friends Badass Boast Freeze-Frame Bonus Agony of the Feet Straight Gay Death by Irony Wounded Gazelle Gambit Narrator Funny Foreigner Male Gaze Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience I'm a Humanitarian What You Are in the Dark Children Are Innocent N-Word Privileges Dropped a Bridge on Him Character Development As You Know Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Rule of Funny Improvised Weapon BFG Face–Heel Turn As the Good Book Says... Parental Incest Film Noir Index Jerkass The Big Guy Rich Bitch Catapult Nightmare Bunny-Ears Lawyer Deliberately Monochrome The Great Depression Anachronic Order Daylight Horror Death of a Child Crapsack World Rated M for Manly Red Oni, Blue Oni One-Man Army B-Movie Knight Templar Made of Explodium Casting Gag Adaptational Attractiveness She's Got Legs Mugging the Monster Rule of Three Artistic License – Law The Un-Reveal Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Running Gag Improbable Weapon User Captain Ersatz Race Lift Random Events Plot Kill 'em All Artistic License – Gun Safety It's Personal Big Bad Duumvirate Say My Name You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Would Hit a Girl Truth in Television Corrupt Corporate Executive Only in It for the Money Actor Allusion Red Eyes, Take Warning Fantasy Films Department of Redundancy Department Gratuitous English Bury Your Gays Jitter Cam Everyone Has Standards Deus ex Machina I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Artistic License – Physics Maybe Ever After Eureka Moment The Oner Fan Disservice Scary Black Man Cool Guns Cat Scare The Ace Getting Crap Past the Radar Betty and Veronica Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Distracted by the Sexy Dutch Angle Hooker with a Heart of Gold Easily Forgiven The Quiet One Man on Fire Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping The Hero Title Drop Credits Gag "Awesome McCool" Name Eyepatch of Power Action Genre Driven to Suicide Real Life Politically Incorrect Villain Unspoken Plan Guarantee Plucky Comic Relief Horror Films Happily Married Meaningful Name Gorn Sole Survivor Foil Expy Mr. Exposition Historical Villain Upgrade Not Using the "Z" Word Aside Glance Half the Man He Used to Be Fish out of Water Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun The Lancer Dogged Nice Guy Fat Bastard The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Accidental Misnaming Not Quite Dead Self-Deprecation Becoming the Mask The Chessmaster Not So Stoic Early Installment Weirdness Cold-Blooded Torture Motor Mouth Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Curse Cut Short Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Slasher Movie Bad "Bad Acting" "Well Done, Son!" Guy Soft Glass Drill Sergeant Nasty Throwing Your Sword Always Works Cool Old Lady Covers Always Lie Spared by the Adaptation Ax-Crazy Body Horror Riddle for the Ages Obfuscating Stupidity Canadian Movies Insult Backfire La Résistance Let's Get Dangerous! Shirtless Scene Leave the Camera Running Cowboy Cop The Starscream Meet Cute Guile Hero Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Adults Are Useless No OSHA Compliance The X of Y Never My Fault Slap-Slap-Kiss Downer Ending Nice Guy Psychological Thriller Parental Abandonment Unreliable Narrator The Dog Bites Back Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Nice Hat Intrepid Reporter Guns Akimbo Vomit Discretion Shot From Nobody to Nightmare Visual Pun Face Death with Dignity Brother–Sister Incest Badass Grandpa Sealed Evil in a Can Faux Affably Evil Imagine Spot Jerk with a Heart of Gold Roaring Rampage of Revenge Closed Circle Pyrrhic Victory Martial Arts Movie Have a Gay Old Time Bolivian Army Ending Cool Shades The '70s Malevolent Masked Men All Just a Dream Names to Run Away from Really Fast Market-Based Title Dirty Coward Ambiguous Disorder Age Lift Thriller Chekhov's Gunman Sci-Fi Horror Groin Attack Science Fiction Films Broken Bird Woman Scorned Arc Words Sanity Slippage Affectionate Parody He Who Fights Monsters Tempting Fate Shown Their Work Pragmatic Villainy Abusive Parents Horror Comedy Spanner in the Works "Shaggy Dog" Story Drugs Are Bad Henpecked Husband Cain and Abel Re-Cut Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Gender Flip Reality Is Unrealistic A God Am I Rule of Symbolism Gainax Ending Villain Song Apocalypse How Sassy Black Woman Deadpan Snarker Film Noir Not What It Looks Like Bad Boss folderlabel Precision F-Strike Dressing as the Enemy Gilligan Cut Dissonant Serenity Taking the Bullet Small Name, Big Ego Christmas Movies Index War Is Hell Anachronism Stew Adaptation Name Change Zombie Stories Not So Different The Sociopath Jump Scare Awesome, but Impractical Big Fancy House Romantic Comedy Video Credits Revenge Wrong Genre Savvy Toplessness from the Back Death by Sex Our Vampires Are Different Pet the Dog Defrosting Ice Queen Black Best Friend Darkest Hour Actually Pretty Funny All There in the Manual Asshole Victim Damsel in Distress Pay Evil unto Evil The Smurfette Principle Villain Opening Scene Adaptational Badass Irony Intergenerational Friendship Dirty Old Man Silent Movie Serious Business Fake Shemp Yandere Never Found the Body Get Out! Disney Villain Death Scare Chord Paper-Thin Disguise Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Evil Brit Attempted Rape Ass Shove Demonic Possession Brainless Beauty Superhero Disproportionate Retribution A Father to His Men Last-Name Basis Killed Mid-Sentence Product Placement Film Series '80s Hair Dies Wide Open Took a Level in Jerkass The Power of Love Novelization Hollywood Darkness Determinator Evil Is Petty The End... Or Is It? All Girls Want Bad Boys Russian Films Reality Ensues Unresolved Sexual Tension Morality Pet Stealth Pun For Want of a Nail Silence Is Golden Cat Fight Red Herring Loads and Loads of Characters Take a Third Option Anti-Villain Adaptational Heroism Parental Neglect Cluster F-Bomb Only One Name Serial Killer Bland-Name Product Lighter and Softer Only Sane Man Slasher Smile Bloody Hilarious Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Call-Forward Death Glare Neck Lift Properly Paranoid Logo Joke Anguished Declaration of Love Heroes Want Redheads Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Super Strength Bloodless Carnage Coming-of-Age Story My God, What Have I Done? Sexy Discretion Shot Does Not Like Shoes Batman Gambit Crazy Jealous Guy Time Skip Deal with the Devil In the Back Monumental Damage Big Damn Heroes Black Comedy Rape Unusually Uninteresting Sight Not So Above It All I Did What I Had to Do Refuge in Audacity Failed a Spot Check Vacation Films Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Romantic False Lead The Load 20 Minutes into the Future The Ghost Earn Your Happy Ending Ugly Guy, Hot Wife A.I. Is a Crapshoot Vitriolic Best Buds Fatal Family Photo Faking the Dead Implacable Man Works Set in World War II Foreshadowing Mood Whiplash After the End Fatal Flaw Breaking the Fourth Wall Insistent Terminology Improbable Aiming Skills Off-into-the-Distance Ending Suspiciously Specific Denial Shout-Out Kubrick Stare Blackmail Recycled IN SPACE! Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Five-Man Band Genre Savvy Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Gory Discretion Shot Nothing Is Scarier Broken Aesop Victoria's Secret Compartment Defiant to the End Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass The Alleged Car Femme Fatale Foregone Conclusion Married to the Job A Minor Kidroduction Dark Is Not Evil Scenery Porn Overly Long Gag Redshirt Army Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Missing Mom Wretched Hive Green-Eyed Monster Determinator aka: The Determinator Evil Is Hammy A Date with Rosie Palms Skewed Priorities Our Zombies Are Different Heel–Face Turn Needs Wiki Magic Love Alpha Bitch Manic Pixie Dream Girl Eldritch Abomination Break the Cutie Bring My Brown Pants Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Action Prologue Auto Erotica Hell Is That Noise Famous Last Words Grievous Bottley Harm Evil Counterpart Evil Laugh Bond One-Liner Mighty Whitey Stuff Blowing Up Mexican Standoff Adaptation Expansion Cool Old Guy Gone Horribly Right Extreme Doormat Disappeared Dad Almost Kiss Does This Remind You of Anything? Moment Killer And I Must Scream The Atoner Tranquil Fury Wicked Cultured NO INDOOR VOICE Cloudcuckoolander Race Against the Clock Amusing Injuries You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Based on a True Story Sinister Minister Stock Footage All Men Are Perverts What Happened to the Mouse? Hero Antagonist Destination Defenestration Take That! Older Than They Look Mundane Made Awesome The Mafia Villain with Good Publicity Bowdlerise Contrived Coincidence Military and Warfare Films He Knows Too Much Large Ham Eagleland Heel Realization Heroic Sacrifice Ripped from the Headlines Offscreen Teleportation Police are Useless Funny Background Event My Beloved Smother Pimped-Out Dress Naked People Are Funny Expository Hairstyle Change Taking You with Me Disguised in Drag Ambiguously Gay Death by Adaptation The Brute Hair-Trigger Temper Flipping the Bird Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Hypocritical Humor Authority Equals Asskicking Developing Doomed Characters Men Are the Expendable Gender Chewing the Scenery For the Evulz Adaptational Villainy Blatant Lies Twist Ending Beard of Evil Historical In-Joke Bare Your Midriff Big Applesauce Costume Porn Redemption Equals Death Air-Vent Passageway Noodle Incident Diabolus ex Machina Smoking Is Cool Mr. Fanservice Slashed Throat Depraved Bisexual Plot Hole Manipulative Bastard Bullying a Dragon Sequel Escalation Black and Gray Morality No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Crucified Hero Shot Ascended Extra Ironic Echo Up to Eleven Tagline Brick Joke Ghost Fiction Decoy Protagonist Dramatic Irony The Voiceless Neck Snap Anti-Hero Here We Go Again! Posthumous Character What the Hell, Hero? The Mole Blood from the Mouth Peek-a-Boo Corpse Artistic License – History The Dreaded Anyone Can Die Freudian Excuse Homage Belligerent Sexual Tension In Name Only Vampire Fiction Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Double Entendre Playing Gertrude Artistic License – Geography Rule of Cool Stealth Hi/Bye The Cameo Adorkable Sequel Hook Bar Brawl Line-of-Sight Name Camp Gay Pretty Little Headshots The Vamp The Bad Guy Wins And the Adventure Continues Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Psycho for Hire As Long as It Sounds Foreign Make It Look Like an Accident Bait-and-Switch Wham Shot Dual Wielding Took a Level in Badass Jerkass Has a Point Show Within a Show Car Fu Immune to Bullets Hidden Depths Hate Sink Animal Motifs Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Chekhov's Gun There Is No Kill Like Overkill Historical-Domain Character Kill It with Fire Love at First Sight Establishing Character Moment Light Is Not Good Together in Death Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Retired Badass Big Brother Instinct Whole Plot Reference Babies Ever After Only Known by Their Nickname Leaning on the Fourth Wall Japanese Films Hollywood Law Villainous Breakdown Dramedy Manly Tears Too Dumb to Live Jerk Jock Australian Movies True Companions Dirty Cop No Antagonist Annoying Younger Sibling Really Gets Around Offscreen Moment of Awesome Smug Snake Red Right Hand No Celebrities Were Harmed Your Head A-Splode Enemy Mine "The Reason You Suck" Speech Setting Update From Bad to Worse Interrupted Suicide Action Survivor Pretty in Mink The Film of the Book Big Eater Broken Pedestal Those Wacky Nazis Madness Mantra Bittersweet Ending Chekhov's Skill Documentary Badass in a Nice Suit Fate Worse than Death Dramatic Gun Cock Amoral Attorney Parental Substitute Villain Protagonist Heterosexual Life-Partners All for Nothing Hope Spot Animal Title Index World of Ham Comically Missing the Point Laughing Mad The Musical Television Movie Index Even Evil Has Standards How We Got Here Abhorrent Admirer French Films Red Shirt My Greatest Failure Public Domain Feature Films O.O.C. Is Serious Business Mystery and Detective Films timeperiod Cruel and Unusual Death Room Full of Crazy Loophole Abuse All There in the Script Author Appeal The Faceless The Chick The Stoner Fourth Date Marriage Pre-Mortem One-Liner Music Stories Stalker with a Crush Butt-Monkey Extremely Short Timespan Honor Before Reason Psychopathic Manchild Made of Iron Early-Bird Cameo Reality Has No Subtitles Oh, Crap! Worthy Opponent Dull Surprise MacGuffin Informed Ability Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Didn't Think This Through Very Loosely Based on a True Story Outrun the Fireball Death Seeker Badass Normal Your Cheating Heart Obviously Evil Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" One Steve Limit Call-Back Black Comedy And Starring Karma Houdini Evil-Detecting Dog Only a Flesh Wound No-Holds-Barred Beatdown She Cleans Up Nicely The '90s Bound and Gagged Chase Scene Heroic BSoD Eye Scream Meaningful Background Event Deliberate Values Dissonance Sports Stories The Smart Guy Knife Nut Blood Knight Frame-Up Antagonist Title Well-Intentioned Extremist Crazy-Prepared The Lost Lenore Important Haircut Hong Kong Films Affably Evil The Dragon Artistic License – Military Tap on the Head Shell-Shocked Veteran Instant Death Bullet Word of God Greater-Scope Villain Creepy Child Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Chiaroscuro Fingore Darker and Edgier Central Theme Boom, Headshot! Fantastic Racism Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Armor-Piercing Question Stylistic Suck Drowning My Sorrows Lock and Load Montage Arch-Enemy Adult Fear Cool Car Animated Credits Opening Danny Peary Cult Movies List Rousing Speech Dumb Blonde Mercy Kill Combat Pragmatist Non-Indicative Name Empathic Environment Canon Foreigner Beta Couple Black Dude Dies First Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Friend to All Children In Medias Res The Stoic Those Two Bad Guys Beware the Nice Ones Conspicuous CG An Axe to Grind Berserk Button Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Card-Carrying Villain Once More, with Clarity! Badass Bookworm Ominous Latin Chanting Captain Obvious Kids Are Cruel Insane Troll Logic Bottomless Magazines I Have Your Wife Unwitting Instigator of Doom The Remake Mad Scientist Gold Digger Kick the Dog The Alcoholic Facial Horror Mistaken for Gay Trailers Always Spoil Storming the Castle Punch-Clock Villain Token Minority Overprotective Dad No Name Given Humiliation Conga Spiritual Successor Evil Plan Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Suspiciously Similar Substitute Same Language Dub Hypocrite Eiffel Tower Effect Idiot Ball Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Ms. Fanservice Shipper on Deck Translation Convention Brutal Honesty Demoted to Extra Book-Ends Dark Action Girl Dark Reprise Did Not Get the Girl Flashback Fun with Acronyms Totally Radical Good Is Not Nice Genre Shift Real Life Writes the Plot Big "NO!" I Need a Freaking Drink Catch-Phrase Naïve Newcomer Even Evil Has Loved Ones Adaptation Distillation German Films Country Matters Scenery Gorn Disney Death Back from the Dead Bi the Way No Ending Wham Line British Films Rasputinian Death Alliterative Name Left the Background Music On Kick the Son of a Bitch Fiery Redhead Continuity Nod Calling the Old Man Out It Can Think Off with His Head! Accidental Murder The Place Epic Fail Award-Bait Song Ambiguous Ending Unusual Euphemism Major Injury Underreaction Deconstruction Humans Are Bastards Shower Scene Obstructive Bureaucrat Fanservice Extra Pragmatic Adaptation Retcon Shoot the Shaggy Dog Cassandra Truth Rape as Drama The Bully Mooks Celebrity Paradox Rewatch Bonus Dwindling Party Police Brutality Adaptation Dye-Job Meaningful Echo Daddy's Girl Despair Event Horizon Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene This Is Gonna Suck Sir Swears-a-Lot Reasonable Authority Figure Historical Hero Upgrade Stepford Smiler Manchild Four-Temperament Ensemble Shut Up, Hannibal! Retirony Curb-Stomp Battle Sadistic Choice The Hero Dies Not Even Bothering with the Accent Better to Die than Be Killed It Will Never Catch On Break the Haughty Poor Communication Kills Protagonist Title No-Sell Corpsing Italian Films It's All About Me